This Week’s Most Popular Posts: March 17-23 [Highlights]

 This week we debunked some pesky exercise myths, figured out if the Man is monitoring us at work, removed embarrassing and/or annoying autocomplete entries from your browser's address bar, and more. Here's a look back.

 

"No pain, no gain!" "You'll never bulk up without supplements." "Crunches are the key to six-pack abs!" It seems there are more questions and half-truths in the market about healthy exercise than there are clear, definitive facts-but the exercise industry is a multi-billion dollar business... More »

 

Dear Lifehacker,
I'm concerned that I'm being monitored at work, but I'm not sure how to tell. I don't think my employers have installed anything on my computer, but does that matter? More »

 

So your job sucks. You could resign yourself to a life of dull (or even miserable) days in the office or you could set aside some time and get a better job. More »

 

So you've set up an awesome home theater, but you're still using outdated DVDs and Blu-Ray discs. If you're tired of hearing all the talk about PC-based media centers, take some time this weekend and set one up for yourself-you won't be disappointed with the results. More »

 

We think Facebook's new Timeline layout is pretty sweet, if only for its awesome customizability. If you're adamant about wanting the old Facebook back, though, a simple Chrome extension can abolish the Timeline for good. More »

 

For years, the 40-hour work week was recognized as the sweet spot for workplace productivity and profits, a system, which AlterNet's Sara Robinson points out, is backed by 150 years of research. More »

 

Streaming music is great, but if you're somewhere without a data connection, like a flight or underground on the subway, some of our favorite cloud services won't do you much good. More »

 

Wine is often perceived as a stuffy, fussy thing, but it doesn't have to be. Sure, different flavors may go better with different foods, but in the end everyone's palate is different, and there's no reason you need to be a sommelier-in-training to order a decent wine with your meal. More »

 

A great portrait involves attention to many details, including camera, framing, color, and lighting. But you can help a shooter out by doing a few photogenic things: More »

 

4 Popular YouTube Userscripts

Userscripts can improve the individual experience on the video hosting site YouTube tremendously. They can basically change every aspect of the site, from its layout to new functionality that a lot of users will find helpful. The following guide looks at the 5 most popular YouTube scripts that are still working on Youtube’s latest design. When you head over to the Userscripts.org website, you will notice that it hosts hundreds of YouTube modification scripts. The majority of scripts that you find there have been last updated in previous years, which usually is a good indicator that they may not be working anymore on the video hosting site.

All userscripts on this page have been tested in Firefox and Google Chrome. Chrome users may not get access to all settings, but the scripts worked all fine at the time of writing.

Chrome users can simply install the script on the linked pages. They become available directly afterwards in the browser.

Firefox users need to install the Greasemonkey or Scriptish extension first, before they can do the same.

The scripts may work in other browsers, but that has not been tested.

The YouTube Better Watch Page script improves the “watch-page” on YouTube in several ways. It tries to rebuild a previous version of the page by moving the description panel to the right sidebar away from the location beneath the video. It furthermore displays the uploader avatar image in that description, and moves the subscribe button to the panel as well.

Firefox users can access the script’s settings to hide or move elements on the watch page. This includes the ability to auto-expand the description panel, auto-hide the category and tags, or to hide suggestions on the page.

The YouTube Enhancer script packs a lot of functionality. When you open it on a video page, you see that it has added options on top of the video, and directly below it. These options allow you to download the video in the quality that you deem fit (from low to the highest quality available, to change the video quality of the current video with a comfortable slider, and to use additional playback controls like looping videos, jumping to the beginning or end, turning of the lights, or rewinding it.

Most scripts and extensions that offer loop or repeat functionality on YouTube replay the video from beginning to end. Better Loopy for YouTube lets you select the start and end time of the loop individually. It also offers some advanced functionality, like a bookmarklet that lets you play all videos on any given YouTube page.

How to use userscripts

YouTube Center is another all-in-one script that is packed with functionality. It offers many of the features that the other scripts offer, like downloading and repeating videos, selecting a desired resolution in which videos should be played or a desired player size. It on top of that offers features, like an option to prevent videos from auto-buffering or auto-playing, one to prevent ads from showing up, and an option to download the audio of a video as an mp3 file.

You find other scripts on the official userscript website, as well as browser add-ons that help you make the most out of YouTube.  The four scripts listed above should be a good start, and for many users, should be all that is needed for a better experience on the site.

Do you use other scripts or extensions? If so, let everyone know about them in the comments.

Improve Your Userscripts.org Experience With Userscripts
How To Loop Youtube Videos
Four Greasemonkey Scripts to improve Youtube
Increase your Youtube experience with Greasemonkey
Automatically Buffer Youtube Videos

Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook, Twitter or Google+ using the icons below.

About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Sunday March 25, 2012 -
Tags:userscripts, youtube, youtube videos

You are here: Home » Browsing » 4 Popular YouTube Userscripts

View the original article here

Most Popular Non-iPod Digital Music Player: Your Phone [Hive Five Followup]

 There are plenty of reasons why you'd want to load up a digital music player and take it with you instead of streaming music from the cloud, like better audio quality, not wanting to drain your phone's battery, smaller size. Whatever your reasons are, last week we asked you which device you kept handy to keep and play your digital music (that isn't the iPod, since it's clearly the king of the market.) You answered with tons of great suggestions, and then we took a look at the top five digital music players and put them to a vote. Now we're back to highlight the overall winner.

The majority of you—45% of the overall vote, in fact, say that your smartphone, whether it's Android, iOS, Windows Phone, or something else, pulls double duty as both streaming and local music player. Why carry another device, when you already have a phone with tons of storage in your pocket? Behind that, 21% of you showed some love for the now-defunct Microsoft Zune and Zune HD. In third place with 18% of the votes cast is the Sandisk Sansa line of music players, like the Sansa Clip and Fuze. 9% of you preferred the Creative Zen series of music players, and bringing up the rear in fifth place was Cowon and its line of music players, which many of you praised for great audio quality.

This Week’s Most Popular Posts: March 10-16 [Highlights]

 This week we fixed nearly every Facebook annoyance you've run into, learned a few tricks and handy skills you can pull off one-handed, supercharged our home networks, and more. Here's a look back.

 

With each update, Facebook has gotten incrementally more cluttered, perplexing, and ornery-and I'm not even talking about all your annoying acquaintances flooding it with inane status updates. More »

 

You know what's cooler than having lots of skills? Having skills you can use with one hand tied behind your back. Here are our top 10 tricks that only take 25% of your limbs to accomplish. More »

 

Home networks can be great or they can be a huge pain in the butt. Set aside some time this weekend to fix your annoying network issues, boost your Wi-Fi reception, and add some great new features. More »

 

Money. You need it to live, but whether you're a spendthrift or a miser, money can make you do foolish things. You'll waste it trying too hard to save, spend it on things you don't need, and simply overpay on regular expenses every month. More »

 

WD-40 was first used by the military in the '50s to clean up Atlas missile parts. Today, it's used by people everywhere to clean up virtually everything in need of a gleam. More »

 

Bell peppers and onion rings make ingenious ring molds for eggs in the skillet. Not only do they impart wonderful flavor to the egg and keep the egg contained, they also look so beautiful. More »

 

I've always wondered why Blu-Ray cases had that annoying flap on the side. All they seem to do is make the case harder to open. Here's how to fix that (without just breaking it off). More »

 

iOS: Not motivated to start running? Would it help if you were trying to escape a pack of brain-hungry zombies? If the possibility of a gruesome death is enough to get your legs moving, Zombies, Run! is an app that will get you going. More »

 

Most people know that the lottery isn't a great way to spend money, but if you're doing it anyway, you might as well do it right. Scientific American breaks down the best practices for betting your cash so you only spend it when it matters.
The basic idea is to only buy tickets for small, state... More »

 

If you missed out on the last free online storage space offer from Dropbox, here's another one you can grab: a total of 3GB of extra space just by using the Camera Upload feature to put photos and videos into Dropbox. More »

 

Laundry is easily my least favorite chore out of all of them-mostly because it always takes so long to sort, wash, fold, and iron all of my clothes. More »

 

I like oranges, but don't like getting my hands sticky with orange juice afterward. I just tried a simple peeling method from Instructables user eggmix that worked great. More »

This Week’s Most Popular Posts: March 3-9 [Highlights]

 This week we learned some healthy options for folks who hate cooking, fixed up our privacy holes, learned what happens to our Gmail accounts when we expire, and more. Here's a look back.

 

One of the barriers for healthy eating is the time it takes to actually prepare a healthy meal. If you already don't like the idea of cooking, making a well-rounded meal is even more of a daunting task. More »

 

When its time to buckle down and get some serious work done, we would hope that you have a go-to productivity method or technique that works best for your workflow. More »

 

Google released a new privacy policy this week, reminding us that the services and apps we use aren't free-we pay for them with our privacy. This weekend, take a look at your digital life and audit your privacy settings to keep your personal information as locked down as possible. More »

 

You use a handful of web services every day, but perhaps none holds more of your personal information than your Gmail account. So what happens to your Gmail account should you end up in that big archive folder in the sky? More »

 

Think about it: Peeling boiled eggs is really unnecessary, when you can just cut right through it and spoon it out.
This time-saving tip is brought to you by Kami from the NoBiggie blog. More »

 

Web development and design are two great skills to have because they allow you to work from anywhere and create amazing, beautiful sites and apps. Nonetheless, it can be hard to get started when you don't know what to do. More »

 

In the past couple of days, a charitable campaign called Kony 2012 has spread across the internet with a momentum normally reserved for cats, mostly due to a compelling 30-minute viral video condemning an unambiguously evil figurehead. More »

 

One of the biggest complaints or obstacles people have about starting a side business or moonlighting is they just don't have any free time. They have full-time jobs, families, school. More »

 

Apple unveiled the next-generation iPad tablet today, with a super-sharp display (2048 x 1536 pixels, which is 1 million more pixels than HDTV) and quad-core graphics-four times the performance of the iPad 2. More »

 

Whether the protective toilet-seat covers found in public restrooms are all that effective or just provide a little peace of mind, if you've ever used one, you know keeping one in place while you sit down often requires some significant body contortions. More »

Most Popular Meeting Minutes Service: Microsoft OneNote [Hive Five Followup]

 There are dozens of web services and special tools designed to help you make the most of the meetings you have to attend or organize, whether it's at work, a community group, or for a volunteer function. Some of them are free, others are web-based, but at the end of the day, the best one is the one that helps you and everyone else stay on the same page and get more done. Earlier in the week we asked you which services you used to manage your meeting minutes and agendas, and then we took a look at the top five. Now we've back to highlight the winner.

Even though it's not strictly designed for meeting minutes, Microsoft OneNote took the top spot with 45% of the overall vote. It's Windows only The desktop version is Windows only (compared to all of the other services, which are all webapps) and the most expensive of the bunch when purchased with Office, but the fact that it comes with Microsoft Office and so many of you are already familiar with it helped lead it to victory. Minutes.io, a great free webapp for managing your meeting minutes and sending out notes after the meeting, took second place with 26% of the overall vote. In third was LessMeeting with just over 12% of the vote, and in fourth place was the freemium service Meetin.gs brought up the rear with just under 6%.

Grovo Offers Video Tutorials and Tips for Some of the Web’s Most Popular Services [Video]

The next time someone asks you "Why should I use Twitter," or "How would I get started with Evernote," instead of sighing deeply and writing a massive email to them or directing them to a useless help page, send them over to Grovo. Grovo is a free site full of video tutorials and online classes that are easy to follow and cover some of the web's biggest and most popular services, like Gmail, Amazon, Pinterest, Wordpress, and more.

If you're reading Lifehacker, you probably know about most of these services already, use them, or at least know how to use them if you choose to, but you may also be the person that others ask for help if they're not familiar with what exactly Twitter is and how they should get started with it, for example, or what exactly Facebook Timeline is and why they're getting it. Grovo's video walkthroughs explain the features, and test the viewer's knowledge with quizzes and questions along the way.

The service is free (although there's a $9/month, $99/year premium option for business users, which offers training on topics like "managing a social media presence" and "online marketing."), and requires you tie it to your Facebook account to sign up (a downer for some people, we know.) Once you're logged in and through the service's somewhat annoying tutorial, you can browse all of the courses available, select the one you're interested in taking or sharing, and start it at any time. If you use Facebook, you can invite your Facebook friends to join your "classroom" and take the classes you're taking—or that you think they should take. Whether you're looking to build your own skills or help someone else out, Grovo may be able to help.

Grovo

Related Stories

View the original article here